


Drinking Buddies

by Fyre



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-16
Updated: 2012-05-16
Packaged: 2017-11-05 12:00:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/406172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grumpy runs into an old drinking buddy after the curse breaks</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drinking Buddies

It was raining, a dull misty drizzle.

Leroy sat on the dock, looking at his boat rocking on the water. No. Not Leroy. The memories had come back of another place, another time, another boat. Grumpy. He was Grumpy again. Once upon a time, he had been Dreamy, but that was a long time ago.

He remembered Nova, now Astrid.

They had seen each other, briefly, when everyone had gathered at City Hall, trying to make sense of everything, but he hadn't been brave enough to go up and talk to her. She didn't have wings, but she was still Nova, the fairy, the Godmother.

He saw her smile, and he smiled back, but all he could remember was the night the Blue Fairy confronted him and gave him the ultimatum: true love and happiness or Nova's life as a fairy Godmother.

So he went to the boat, and he sat alone, and watched it roll on the water.

On the shore, someone was walking. He could hear the crunch of the pebbles underfoot. He glanced over his shoulder. It was a woman in a hooded coat, walking right on the waterline, her hands deep in her pockets. For once, there was someone else in town who didn't seem to be in the throes of a happy reunion.

She paused at the edge of the dock, turning to look out at the water, and Grumpy stared at her in astonishment.

"Hey! Hey, Miss!"

She looked at him, and he would have recognised her anywhere. The smile was gone, now, and she was pale, eyes shadowed and tired. A frown creased her brow, then recognition flooded her face. "You!" she exclaimed. She ran up onto the docks and to his surprise, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. "I was hoping I'd see you again," she said, pulling back to look at him. "How did it go? Did you find her?"

Grumpy's face fell.

"Oh," she said, stepping back. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, no," Grumpy said at once. "It was me. I let her go. She had a great future, but it wasn't with me."

The woman gazed at him. "That sounds like a story," she said.

"It's not a happy one," he said with a crooked smile.

"No," she agreed. "They never are."

He studied her face. He could see how tired she looked, how sad. "You want to come on board?" he suggested. "We can have a drink and get out of the rain for a while."

For a moment, she smiled. "I'd like that."

__________________________________

 

"And then!" Belle waved a hand. "Then he kicked me out!"

Her companion poured her another glass of some kind of warming golden liquid. "He sounds like an idiot," he said. "Stupid idiot."

"Oh, he is," Belle agreed.

They were sitting in the little boat on the edge of the river, and had already finished half a bottle of some kind of spirit. She didn't know what it was, but it was nice, and it was taking the edge off her frustration and weariness and outright annoyance with Rumpelstiltskin.

"But y'love him," Grumpy said.

His name fitted him now. He wasn't the same hopeful, happy dwarf she'd met years before. He'd had his heart broken as well, and now, like her, he could see the person he loved, right in front of him, and yet, it felt like nothing had changed. 

"Love him," Belle agreed mournfully. "And he said he loves me."

Grumpy squinted at her. "Tha's good," he said. "He said it. S'good!"

Belle slammed back another glass of the liquid, then set the glass down. "Thought so," she said. "An' then, he made magic come back. He told me, y'know. Said it to me. Power was more important than me. Thought he was lying then. And then I find him again, and he thought I was dead, and you know what he did?"

"Kiss?" Grumpy said.

Belle shook her head, leaning closer to him. "Went and brought magic back. That big purple cloud of bad? S'him. He did it."

Grumpy frowned. "Thought that was the curse breaking?"

Belle shook her head, taking the bottle to refill her glass. "Nope. Him. Told me he loved me, then went and threw the bottle of true love down the well to make the world magic. Him and his bloody power. Wish I pushed him down the bloody well."

The dwarf scratched his nose in confusion. "Magic's good," he said. "Isn't it? Fairies are magic and they're good."

"Hmm."

"Nova is."

Belle made a face. "Anyone who makes you give up true love is bad."

Grumpy went cross-eyed. "Okay," he said. "Some fairies're bad. And bossy." He swirled his glass, staring at it. "So, what're you going to do? You got true love and he's an idiot. Going to keep him?"

Belle sighed hugely. "Yes," she said. "He's an idiot, but he's my idiot." She drained the last of the liquid in her glass, and turned it round between her hands. "He's a coward. Stupid big coward. He said he needs it. Big power. But says he can give it up when he's done."

"Like booze," Grumpy said, meaningfully looking at the bottle. She pushed it back towards him and he refilled his glass. "D'you tell him you were annoyed?"

Belle nodded. "Had to come out and get air because he was being all... all him at me."

"Didn't see you at City Hall," Grumpy said thoughtfully. "Y'not wanting to see people?"

"People not wanting to see him," Belle replied with another sigh. "People don't like him."

"People don't like me, but I went," Grumpy said, frowning. "An' everyone else was there."

"Not him. Doesn't play nice," Belle complained. She put her glass down on the table. "Stupid Rumpelstiltskin."

Grumpy had been taking a drink and choked. "...the hell?" he coughed.

Belle blinked at him. "What?"

"Your true love? Rumpelstiltskin?"

She nodded.

Grumpy stared at her. "Sister," he said, picking up the bottle, "you're gonna need another drink."

 

_______________________________________

 

Rumpelstiltskin was worried, and that made him uncomfortable.

For years, generations even, he didn't need to worry about anyone or anything. Now, though, he had Belle to protect and Bae to find, and the wrath of all of Storybrooke to repel. Belle was the main concern. She wasn't impressed by the magic at the well.

No, on the whole, she wasn't impressed by anything he'd done since they parted.

The explanation about the curse resulted in her stern face.

The mumbled excuses about Bae, and why he was in this world, resulted in the folded arms.

The necessity for magic...

She'd taken her stolen coat and walked out of the door.

He started after her, but she gave him such a blistering look that he'd subsided and sheepishly said he would be there when she got back.

The house felt as empty as the Dark Castle in her absence. He paced the floor for a while, his leg no longer so painful to walk on. He sat by his old spinning wheel in the back room and tried to spin. He even got to the point of washing the dishes from breakfast.

She was gone a full four hours, and when the door opened, he all but ran through to the hall.

"Belle."

She was staggering, and for a terrifying moment, he thought she was hurt. Then she crashed into his arms, reeking of alcohol, and he stared at her in astonishment, his arms the only thing holding her up. His little Belle, drunk to the point of falling down.

"You," she declared, jabbing him in the chest with a finger, "are an idiot."

"Belle," he began.

"Shush!" She clamped a hand over his mouth. "M'talking." She grabbed his shoulder with her other hand, pulling herself up to look him in the face. "Don't know why you brought magic. S'stupid an' annoying an' wanted us to just be happy."

He tried to speak, but she glowered at him so fiercely that he fell silent.

"What I wan'," she said, speaking slowly and carefully, "is an essplanation. A proper one. 'Bout all of it."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded at once. "Anything," he promised.

She narrowed her eyes at him, her pretty nose crinkling. "Bu' not now," she added carefully. "Won't remember, if you tell me now."

His lips twitched. "You are a little drunk," he agreed.

"Not," she said, shaking her head. "Lot drunk. Not little." She put her arms around his neck. "Kiss me?"

He hesitated. "Belle."

Her face fell. "You don't wanna?"

"Of course I do," he said, his arms slipping at her waist. "But you're about to fall over and it's hardly going to be memorable."

She pouted. "You owe me," she declared, then kissed him wetly on the cheek. "I love you, my stupid man."

He bent and managed to lift her up in his arms. She giggled and nestled against him. Even if she was drunk, he couldn't have been happier to have her there. "And I love you too, my drunken lady."

"I know," she beamed at him. "Bed?"

He smiled. "Bed."


End file.
